The present invention relates to a system for dehumidification of air in an enclosure.
The vapor content of cold air is considerably small, e.g., 6 g/kg air, as compared with the vapor content of warm air inside an enclosure, which is typically 11 g/kg for greenhouses and 15 g/kg for enclosed swimming pools. Under these circumstances, ventilation is commonly used inside enclosures for removing humidity. Ventilation, however, also removes heat and latent heat from the enclosure. For example, removing 1 kg of water vapor in a swimming pool enclosure requires 1.2 kW of heat. In greenhouses, it requires 3 kW of heat, because plant transpiration is related to convective heating.
It is therefore a broad object of the present invention to provide a system for economically removing humidity inside enclosures, with the minimal removal of heat.
In accordance with the present invention, there is therefore provided a system for the dehumidification of air in a space inside an enclosure, said system comprising at least one air/brine heat exchanger unit for heating cold fresh air introduced into the heat exchanger from the outside and for dehumidifying the air within said enclosure by vapor condensation; and a brine regenerator in brine communication with said air/brine heat exchanger.